Question: Yes, thank you for your help. My name is XXXXXXX I've repeatedly scratched the inside of my esophagus over the past few years from swallowing either the wrong thing or swallowing too soon. It started a few years ago when I accidentally swallowed a chicken bone, which got stuck for two days, then finally went down. That messed up my throat for awhile, but it eventually healed. Two days ago I was eating some homemade chicken soup which had been thoroughly checked for bones. While I was swallowing one time I felt a prick on the right side of my esophagus, and then a dull pain was there for the rest of the day. I fear I may have opened up that previous injury, because it happened in the same place. Each time something goes down wrong, it feels like the object is still there after a few days. My question is am I just feeling a scratch or bruise instead of the foreign object, and if I am, how long should the tissue take to heal up? Is there any way to tell whether something is stuck or not without going to a doctor. I've been eating solid foods and drinking liquids and everything has gone down fine. I don't feel a physical object there anymore, but the right side of my throat feels sore and stiff and swollen. I aggravated it three days ago, and I've been worrying about it ever since. Could my stress be making me experience symptoms that aren't really there? I'm planning to go get an endoscopy done just to get piece of mind, because I've been experiencing discomfort off and on for about 2 years. Would you recommend that? I was also wondering whether an MRI would tell me what is going on. My situation is that I have no health insurance and only work a part-time job. Your help is greatly appreciated.